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Kentuckian advances on ‘American Idol’ with Luke Combs cover. ‘We found somebody here’

Dakota Hayden, a 17-year-old from Fordsville, Kentucky, advanced to Hollywood on “American Idol.”
Dakota Hayden, a 17-year-old from Fordsville, Kentucky, advanced to Hollywood on “American Idol.” "American Idol" screengrab

An “American Idol” contender has emerged from Fordsville, a small town in Western Kentucky with a population of 500.

Dakota Hayden, a 17-year-old high schooler, impressed all three judges in his “Idol” audition that aired on Sunday, March 13. He performed a cover from Luke Combs, who he told the Herald-Leader is among his musical inspirations.

Playing the guitar as he sang, Hayden was interrupted near the end of his performance when judge Luke Bryan asked him to sing without the instrument.

“Dig in a little more like Luke (Combs) does,” Bryan told the teenager.

Hayden sang the chorus of “When It Rains It Pours” again, which was received well from the judges.

“When you saw us smiling up here the whole time you were singing, it wasn’t because we were laughing at you,” Lionel Richie said. “We were thinking to ourselves, ‘We found somebody here.’ You are pure country, believable as heck. ... You’re an aw shucks kind of guy, and it translates.”

Richie added that Hayden’s attitude and personality remind him of Bryan, the three-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year.

Katy Perry believes Hayden is “top 10 material.”

“You are authentic through and through,” she said. “You are country from your hat to your boots.”

Bryan also gave a resounding “yes” to Hayden and thanked him for driving his “butt down from Fordsville, Kentucky” to the audition in Nashville, Tennessee.

“You are exactly what we want to find,” he added.

Hayden told the Herald-Leader he had a watch party at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Beaver Dam, where he sometimes performs.

In addition to Combs, Hayden said he draws inspiration from Morgan Wallen, Cody Johnson, Alan Jackson, George Strait and Keith Whitley.

He joins another Kentucky teenager with country roots in the next round of “American Idol.” Last month, 19-year-old Noah Thompson, from Louisa, advanced after his cover of Kameron Marlowe’s “Giving You Up.”

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This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 7:43 AM with the headline "Kentuckian advances on ‘American Idol’ with Luke Combs cover. ‘We found somebody here’."

MS
Mike Stunson
Lexington Herald-Leader
Mike Stunson covers real-time news for McClatchy. He is a 2011 Western Kentucky University graduate who has previously worked at the Paducah Sun and Madisonville Messenger as a sports reporter and the Lexington Herald-Leader as a breaking news reporter. 
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